OPINION: As misinformation and the digital world take over political discourse online, it is heartening to know the internet is still no match for good old-fashioned face time.
If you live on the internet or spend enough hours scrolling through social media pages you will get a strong sense that our politicians are useless.
Posts, community pages and news comment sections are filled with vitriol towards politicians – mostly incumbents – and flat-out disdain for government.
Since the advent of President Donald Trump in 2017 and the lack of interest by social media companies in prioritising truth, lies and misinformation have added a genuinely dangerous tinge to this trend.
It is edging us ever closer to living in a Black Mirror episode.
Yet, when push comes to shove, the votes for so many of our politicians don’t reflect the sheer level of hate spewed out by keyboard warriors.
Why? It is because a few minutes of genuine, real-life connection can still override a million hours of social media garbage in the minds of most voters. Kevin Michel is a perfect example.
Labor’s Pilbara parliamentarian cops plenty of flack online, so much so you would believe the bloke is unelectable.
Kodak Kev, they call him, always happy to pose for a photo, never does anything for the electorate.
Yet, come March, he is likely to be voted in for a third term to represent a seat many in Western Australia would regard as conservative (voting patterns show it is not, for the record).
How can this be?
He is up against a respected Karratha local, Kieran Dart, running for the Nationals and one of state’s most recognisable family names, Amanda Kailis, for the Liberals.
If you spend enough time talking to business owners and community groups in the Pilbara, you will find out Mr Michel is quite popular in the real world.
He attends small business events, turns up to community sport games, chats with parents at school, supports local groups, door knocks relentlessly and will always stop for a chat at the shops.
Not just during election campaigns either: he does it all year, every year.
Does he get the results of his predecessor, Brendon Grylls?
No. Few could.
But a regular stream of small support measures for hyperlocal issues, events, groups and businesses have been enough to keep the real-world punters happy.
Social media warriors may not care about a $1,000 grant to a children’s soccer club, but actual human beings do.
They also care that a local member is genuinely passionate about their community, and you can only get that sense by meeting someone in person.
It is why John Carey and Basil Zempilas, for example, spend so much time walking the streets of their electorates too.
While the two seem intent on building a political rivalry for the ages, they are cut from the same cloth when it comes to the campaign trail.
Mr Zempilas is a deeply polarising figure online and in his flood of media engagements.
Good luck finding a real, middle-of-the-road, voter who thinks he would make a bad state politician though.
Those seeking to muddy the waters with misinformation, with lies and with hate online are ratcheting up their efforts and are being aided and abetted by social media companies, and media and political figures who seek to gain benefit from this trend.
But we can take solace in the fact punters can still see the wood for the trees. How long that will last is anyone’s guess.
